Despite criticism against controversial Israeli Holocaust commemoration campaign, project expected to be integrated within German educational system

Raz Shechnik|Published: 16.10.13 , 11:34

A campaign featuring Holocaust stories and tattoos
of prisoner numbers, led by advertising agency Baumann-Ber-Rivnay, sparked much controversy in Israel
and the world during the last Holocaust
Remembrance Day.

Alongside support of the unusual advertising move by Holocaust survivors, there was much criticism against the campaign for "using a gimmick." Yet the campaign will now be integrated into high school history lessons – in Germany
of all places.

The decision was made recently by a German school books publisher, following the public debate created by the campaign in Israel and around the world.

The campaign "People. Not numbers" was led by Baumann-Ber-Rivnay together with Next Generation to Holocaust and Heroism organization and Spring for Holocaust Survivors organization, and was released during the last Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The campaign featured cards with temporary number tattoos affixed – replicas of the numbers that the Nazis
had tattooed onto prisoners in concentration camps. The cards also carried a code that when scanned with a phone or other device or when entered into a computer, would bring to an online site that would tell the story of the living survivor who bore that number.

The cards were distributed in universities and high schools during the 2013 Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"This campaign touched a soft spot. The aim was to raise the issue among youths, whose stimulation threshold is higher, and for some of them the Holocaust is a distant and historic memory," said Baumann-Ber-Rivnay CEO Yossi Lubaton on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, there were some who had trouble understanding the importance of commemorating the Holocaust. I am pleased that the project will now be taught to German youth, and it is certainly proof that we have achieved out goals."